Week
data provider: CONTENTdm
contributor: Blakemore, William
issued: 2017-03-21
issued: 1917-10-20
aggregated CHO: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/pwv/items/1.0374055/source.json
format: application/pdf
note: Week fl British -Solumbia Newspaper and Review Vol. XV, No.'^ 15th Year Victoria, B.C., Canada, October 20th, 1917 5c a copy $2.00 a year The Conscription of Wealth ACCORDING to New York dispatches, tho British Government has decided on drastic steps to meet the enormous cost of the war. It is alleged thnt ten per cent of all private capital will be taken over by tho Stato and that wealth valued at $10,000,000,000 will bo thus realised. This action is equivalent to repudiating one- half of the nation's indebtedness. The bondholders will be repaid by their own money. Some persons nre disposed to call this operation "confiscation," and who shall say that they are wrong? Others describe it as compromising with the creditors at fifty cents on the dollar. This statement would be equally difficult to refute. But call it what you will, the fact remains—if the report be true—that the British Government has come to a realization of the necessity of lightening the national burden. John Bull has hitherto displayed moro courage than the other warring nations. He seems still determined to head the procession. Perhaps in the fulness of time he will see the wisdom and the necessity of relying less upon confiscation, or repudiation or whatever term may be chosen to describe the process of scaling clown the national debt. At long last he will muster courage to pay his bills from lho fund that rightly belongs to him, i.e., the national rent-roll. The value, actual and potential of the lands of the United Kingdom would alone suffice to discharge the national obligations. And the taxation of rent would have the additional advantages of: Placing land within the reach of the landless by penalizing monopoly; increasing production by removing fines on energy;-increasing wages by stimulating industry and the demand for workers; and encouraging trade by the abolition of customs duties. But in the meantime it is satisfactory to notice that the profiteers are not to escape with their ill-gotte…
note: Publisher changes in chronological order: publisher not identified (1904-1906) ; The Week Publishing Co., Ltd. Offices (1906-1907) ; �The Week� Publishing Company, Limited (1907-1918) ; publisher not identified (1918-1920)
has type: Newspapers
spatial: Victoria (B.C.)
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0374055
language: English
lat: 48.428333
long: -123.364722
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: Victoria : "The Week" Publishing Company, Limited
rights: Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the Digitization Centre: http://digitize.library.ubc.ca/
is part of: BC Historical Newspapers
source: Original Format: Royal British Columbia Museum. British Columbia Archives.
type: Text